Math Facts Secret Codes

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When it comes to those basic math facts, there's nothing like practice, practice, practice. But making them interesting is quite another matter. Here's an irresistible activity you can use with your second grader to send messages in “secret code.” Next time you pack a school lunch, for example, try putting in a special note with your love and good wishes … in a code that your child and her friends can decipher over their meal.

What You Need:

What You Do:

Make up some addition problems for your child to solve. Make a decoding sheet to correspond with the answers, and write a letter for each answer to create a message!

Write your message on the decoder key, by making a small line for each letter of the alphabet in the message.

Write out your message lines, and then let your child take a whack at the math facts to decode your words. The sum of each pair of numbers appears under each line of the message, and matches up with a letter. For a child who is making good progress on math facts, this is a fairly fast activity … but one that will bring a sense of accomplishment that lasts all day and beyond!

Guided Lessons are a sequence of interactive digital games, worksheets, and other activities
that guide learners through different concepts and skills.
They keep track of your progress and help you study smarter, step by step.

Guided Lessons are digital games and exercises that keep track of your progress and help you study smarter, step by step.

Fluency with subtraction is one of the foundations of the first grade math curriculum. This guided lesson on subtraction was designed by our team of curriculum experts to reinforce first graders' understanding of subtraction, as well as boost their confidence with this operation. When finished with the lesson, kids can find extra opportunities to practice subtraction with the accompanying subtraction worksheets.

Fluency with subtraction is one of the foundations of the first grade math curriculum.